biography
| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1894–1964)
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| biography:
| Screenwriter, director, and playwright, born in New York City, New York, USA. After youthful forays as a concert violinist and circus acrobat, he went to Chicago at age 16 and became a newspaper reporter. He was a foreign correspondent in World War 1, and back in Chicago tried his hand at more serious fiction and started the Chicago Literary Times (1923–5). During the next 40 years he was one of the most sought-after and admired scriptwriters in Hollywood, writing - alone or in collaboration - close to 100 screenplays (for many of which he received no credit). He did receive Oscars for Underworld (1927) and The Scoundrel (1935); the latter he co-wrote and co-directed with Charles MacArthur, his collaborator on various other films and plays, including Front Page (1928) and Twentieth Century (1932). Because of his open support of the Jewish struggle against the British in Palestine, his name was removed from all his films shown in Britain during the late 1940s. His autobiography, A Child of the Century, was published in 1954. |
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